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Ohio · county maple atlas

Maple sugaring in Champaign County, Ohio

Champaign County had 6 maple operations and 1,724 taps in the 2022 Census. Around Urbana, sap usually runs from February 18 to March 25. Here's the long-run pattern, 36 seasons of sap weather, and the outlook this week.
Too early to tapAbout 135 days until the usual start.
Sap starts
Feb 18
typical year
Season ends
Mar 25
about 5 weeks
Sap days / season
40
1991–2026 average
Taps, 2022
1,724
#30 of 63 in OH

Sap-flow outlook at Urbana right now

Full Ohio forecast →

Forecast for Urbana, OH

Updated Oct 6, 4:00 AM EDT

Off-season for now. Sap needs freezing nights, and none are in sight. Champaign County's season usually opens around February 18, which is 135 days away.

No freeze-thaw days in the forecast

freeze thaw 32°F

  1. WedOct 7
    45° / 76°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  2. ThuOct 8
    50° / 71°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  3. FriOct 9
    43° / 69°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  4. SatOct 10
    46° / 74°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  5. SunOct 11
    53° / 73°

    0h below · 24h above

    No refreeze forecast
  6. MonOct 12
    53° / 76°
    No refreeze forecast

Data: National Weather Service. Verdicts use freeze-thaw thresholds from maple field research; your woods may run a little differently.

When the sap runs

The sugaring calendar at Urbana

Freeze-thaw weather at Urbana peaks in the weeks of Jan 26 to Apr 6, which hold about 63% of a season's sap days. March is the busiest month.
Typical season: Feb 18 – Mar 250246Week of Dec 1: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 8: 2.3 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 15: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 22: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Dec 29: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 5: 1.5 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 12: 1.6 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 19: 1.3 sap days on averageWeek of Jan 26: 1.8 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 2: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 9: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 16: 2.1 sap days on averageWeek of Feb 23: 2.4 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 2: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 9: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 16: 2.8 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 23: 2.6 sap days on averageWeek of Mar 30: 2.0 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 6: 1.7 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 13: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 20: 0.5 sap days on averageWeek of Apr 27: 0.1 sap days on averageWeek of May 4: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 11: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 18: 0.0 sap days on averageWeek of May 25: 0.0 sap days on averageDecJanFebMarAprMaytaps in ~Feb 18
Average number of freeze-thaw sap days in each week of the season at Urbana, 1991–2026. A sap day is an overnight low under 30.2 °F followed by an afternoon high over 37.4 °F. The shaded band is the typical season.

Year-to-year spread

Opening signal
Median Feb 13; the middle half of seasons fell between Feb 1 and Feb 20. Earliest Jan 15 (2006), latest Mar 4 (2010).
Closing signal
Median Mar 15; middle half between Mar 3 and Mar 22. Earliest Feb 14 (2006), latest Apr 7 (2013).
Sap days by month
Dec22%Jan16%Feb22%Mar29%Apr10%May0%

36 seasons of sap weather

Champaign County seasons, 1991–2026

The best sap year at Urbana was 2018 with 57 freeze-thaw days; the leanest was 2003 with 19. Seasons that start early tend to end early too: the trees run on the swing between freezing nights and mild days, and heat ends it.
JanFebMarAprMaysap days20262026: Jan 31 – Mar 3, 38 sap days3820252025: Feb 9 – Mar 9, 40 sap days4020242024: Feb 3 – Feb 26, 41 sap days4120232023: Jan 17 – Feb 19, 49 sap days4920222022: Feb 11 – Mar 14, 46 sap days4620212021: Feb 21 – Mar 21, 43 sap days4320202020: Feb 4 – Mar 9, 50 sap days5020192019: Feb 18 – Mar 24, 45 sap days4520182018: Jan 26 – Feb 27, 57 sap days5720172017: Jan 25 – Feb 17, 32 sap days3220162016: Feb 4 – Mar 7, 39 sap days3920152015: Feb 27 – Apr 1, 39 sap days3920142014: Feb 27 – Mar 31, 28 sap days2820132013: Mar 4 – Apr 7, 52 sap days5220122012: Feb 3 – Mar 8, 46 sap days4620112011: Feb 14 – Mar 15, 31 sap days3120102010: Mar 4 – Mar 18, 28 sap days2820092009: Feb 10 – Mar 15, 39 sap days3920082008: Feb 20 – Mar 27, 40 sap days4020072007: Feb 14 – Mar 19, 35 sap days3520062006: Jan 15 – Feb 14, 41 sap days4120052005: Feb 11 – Mar 18, 32 sap days3220042004: Feb 18 – Mar 25, 44 sap days4420032003: Mar 1 – Mar 15, 19 sap days1920022002: Jan 22 – Feb 24, 41 sap days4120012001: Feb 22 – Mar 29, 37 sap days3720002000: Jan 26 – Mar 1, 38 sap days3819991999: Feb 14 – Mar 20, 52 sap days5219981998: Jan 22 – Feb 15, 40 sap days4019971997: Feb 1 – Mar 8, 43 sap days4319961996: Feb 18 – Mar 25, 37 sap days3719951995: Feb 15 – Mar 11, 35 sap days3519941994: Feb 21 – Mar 27, 36 sap days3619931993: Feb 23 – Mar 20, 34 sap days3419921992: Jan 28 – Mar 2, 48 sap days4819911991: Feb 14 – Mar 17, 46 sap days46
Each bar runs from the season's opening signal to its closing signal, estimated from daily temperatures at Urbana. Dashed lines mark the typical dates. The right column counts freeze-thaw sap days from December through May.

Maple production

Champaign County in the Census of Agriculture

USDA counts maple operations every five years. In Champaign County the 2022 Census found 6 farms making syrup (0% since 2017), with taps +116% and syrup output null over the same five years. That works out to about 0.29 gallons of syrup per tap in 2022. Among the 385 counties in this atlas, Champaign County ranks 258 by taps.

Champaign County maple production, 2017 and 2022 (USDA Census of Agriculture)
Census yearFarmsTapsGallons of syrupGal / tap
202261,7244980.29
20176800withheld—

“Withheld” means USDA suppressed the figure to avoid disclosing data for individual operations; the farm count is still published.

Nearby

Neighboring maple counties

Distances are between reference towns; typical dates are each county's own estimate.

About these numbers

The season dates are estimated from 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures for the PRISM 4-km grid cell at Urbana (1,056ft), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast: a sap day is an overnight low under 30.2 °F followed by an afternoon high over 37.4 °F. Each season's closing signal is the last sap day before accumulated warmth reaches a threshold, and the opening signal sits five weeks before that, never earlier than the first real freeze-thaw week. Tested against 117 state-seasons of USDA-reported dates, the rule lands within 5.5 days of the reported close and 6.6 days of the reported opening on average, and the typical dates shown here are scaled to Ohio's USDA record (8 years). Production figures are copied from the Census as published. Full method, calibration tables and the downloadable dataset →

Sources · 6

  1. 1.2022 Census of Agriculture, County Level Data — Ohio, Table 37: Maple Syrup, 2022 and 2017 · USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service
  2. 2.PRISM daily temperature grids (AN81d, 4 km), accessed 2026-10-05 · PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu
  3. 3.Applied Climate Information System (ACIS) web services · NOAA Regional Climate Centers
  4. 4.USDA NASS maple syrup reports — approximate average season opened and closed dates, 2011–2022 · USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (mirrored by the University of Vermont)
  5. 5.Sap flow in sugar maple: timing and weather drivers (Frontiers in Agronomy, 2025) · de Lima Santos et al.
  6. 6.GeoNames gazetteer (cities500), CC BY 4.0 · GeoNames

FAQ

Champaign County sugaring questions

When should I tap maple trees in Champaign County, Ohio?
In a typical year the sap starts running around February 18 near Urbana and the season winds down around March 25. Have your taps in a day or two before the first forecast string of freezing nights and 40 °F days. In the past 36 seasons the weather signal came as early as Jan 15 and as late as Mar 4.
How much maple syrup does Champaign County produce?
The 2022 Census of Agriculture counted 6 maple operations in Champaign County with 1,724 taps producing 498 gallons of syrup, ranking 30 of 63 Ohio's counties with published tap counts.
How many sap days does Champaign County get in a season?
On average 40 freeze-thaw sap days from December through May at Urbana, of which about 15.6 are textbook days with a night in the 20s and a day in the 40s. The best season since 1991 was 2018 (57 sap days); the leanest was 2003 (19).
Where do these dates come from?
From 36 seasons of daily high and low temperatures at Urbana (PRISM 4-km grid), scored with the same freeze-thaw rule as our live forecast, then calibrated against USDA's reported season dates for Ohio. They describe a typical year at one point in the county; your sugarbush, slope and elevation can shift them by days.

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